


Of Heroes and Monsters

by LeisurelyPanda



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Alternate Universe - Percy Jackson Fusion, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Crushes, Don't copy to another site, Fantasy, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Identity Issues, M/M, Monsters, Multi, Mutual Pining, Non-Serum Steve Rogers/Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes | Shrinkyclinks, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pagan Gods, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Slow Burn, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2019-08-14
Packaged: 2020-06-30 12:47:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19853491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeisurelyPanda/pseuds/LeisurelyPanda
Summary: 50 years after the events of the Battle of Manhattan, when Percy saved Olympus, everything has changed. The more things change, though, the more they stay the same. The gods still have children, the children still get sent to Camp Halfblood, and they're still trained to be heroes.Bucky Barnes, his sisters, and Steve Rogers are all demigods who have found their way to the camp by the skin of their teeth. New threats will arise. The past will rear its ugly head once again. The old generation must pass the torch so a new generation of demigods can be the ones to make legends this time.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is dedicated to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, the thing I spend more time thinking and writing about than pretty much anything else. 
> 
> Hello my loves! Here is a new fic that I've been working on for a while. Those of you who are familiar with the Percy Jackson series will see some of the characters from the series, but for the most part, this will focus on the Marvel characters as demigods. 
> 
> Also, the major plot line won't start for a few chapters because we're assuming that the Greek Gods at some point got a memo that they shouldn't send their teenage children on life threatening quests with the fate of their world in the balance. So everyone who risks their life on a quest in this story will be at least 18 years old. 
> 
> With that said, let's get this started! Enjoy.

Aphrodite walked through the aisles of a baby store in Manhattan. Olympus was crowded today, what with all the gods converging for the next few weeks. Ever since Poseidon’s son, Percy, had saved them all from Kronos, they met every decade or so to ensure that they were following up on their oath. It had been met with grumbling at first, but now it was starting to become routine. 

Aphrodite didn’t mind claiming her children. The fact that other gods seemed to see this as a burden unjustly thrust upon them seemed silly. She was hardly surprised, but there was a reason why she was the goddess of love and not someone else. If she didn’t love humans she slept with or the children she bore, how could she say that she was indeed the goddess of love?

This particular gathering was different, though. For one, she herself was expecting again. The baby would come fairly soon, to be honest. She knew who the child’s mortal parents were, too: a gentle former soldier and his sweet, kind, beautiful, and sadly infertile wife. The three of them had shared a brief relationship some months back. Brief, but immensely satisfying. The news that she was pregnant had been some shock, but they had both readily agreed that they wanted the baby. 

This would be the third child she had with them. Part of her wondered if it was smart to have three demigods be in the same household, but she couldn’t help but love this husband and his wife. They were kind, decent people who didn’t just look at her. They, like her husband, saw her for who she was. How two people who could see through the Mist got together, she could only imagine. The odds were astronomical. 

It was sad, but after this child, she would need to leave. If she was too close, it could put her children in more danger. Camp Half-blood, which now more like a small, growing town than a camp, was the only place for Greek demigods to find refuge from the monsters that would hunt them. Three demigods would surely attract attention, no matter how weak they were. 

It was a thought for another day, though. The baby wasn’t due for another couple months. She had time to figure out a solution. Perhaps she could arrange to have their family moved to New York, a business opportunity, perhaps. That way they would be closer and if they ever needed to send the children away, they wouldn’t have to travel across the country. New York suburbs would also be a good place to raise a growing family. She could easily imagine them running around with her daughters and taking care of the baby. 

A baby that was due to arrive in just a couple months. She sighed as she straightened her back. This one was a fighter. She could feel it every time he kicked and squirmed inside her. He would be passionate and powerful and Aphrodite would be sad to let him go. She always was, but mortal children belonged with mortals. Watching them grow up from afar wasn’t quite the same as raising a child herself. 

She pushed the thoughts from her mind lest they make her cry. This particular pregnancy was more emotional than many of her other ones. She wondered if she should give this child the charmspeak, if he was already so fierce. Charmspeak was a powerful gift, much more so than anyone gave it credit for. Her daughter, Piper, was one of the few who recognized it for what it was. 

On the one hand, if she gave it to them, it could make their life easier. Their mortal parents weren’t exactly Jeff Bezos. Charmspeak could help them endear them to others. 

On the other hand, if she didn’t give it to them, they would have to rely on their own strength (beyond whatever powers they were born with due to being her child). Their wits would have to see them through whatever hardships they faced. Aphrodite didn’t envy the demigods. 

She finally selected a darling little green onesie with seashells on the front. It was about the size of an average two year old toddler, so the child’s parents would probably find it helpful. She also got a few boxes of diapers, some pants, and another yellow shirt with a dolphin. She would have one of her Erotes deliver the goods to the Barnes home in Indiana. As she left the store, she felt her child kick her again near her spleen. She grunted a bit from the pain and ran her hand lovingly over her stomach. 

“Little fighter,” she said fondly. “Ready to be born already. Patience, love.” 

It was rare that she had such a powerful child. Even Piper, powerful as she was, wasn’t like this. Few of her children possessed the potential to manifest both the power of love, and the madness of it. She wasn’t sure whether to be afraid for them or excited.

* * *

Sarah Rogers was Not Happy. Of course, working 12 hour hospital shifts 4 days a week while sick wasn’t the best way to spend life. She would’ve called in, but the sickness had only lasted in the morning so far and she felt better after a couple hours or so. As long as it was just a stomach bug, she didn’t need to worry about anything. 

That didn’t make the shift any better, though. Being a nurse was hard, grueling work. Keeping patients comfortable, that was okay. It was good and she liked to help them feel just a little better. She even loved the cranky ones. 

The cleaning, though, that wasn’t quite as fulfilling. It had to be done, but if she could have a choice, she would rather help patients get to the bathroom than clean out bedpans or clean up other body fluids. 

Thankfully, she was in the last hour of her last shift this week. Her next shift wouldn’t be for another few days and with any luck, she wouldn’t be called in to pick up someone else’s. She always seemed to help out when asked, even if she was at the end of her rope. Unfortunately, Brooklyn was expensive and even working in a hospital meant that she lived paycheck to paycheck. 

Her phone buzzed as Sarah’s shift ended. It was all she could do to not jump to her feet and run out of the building, mostly because her feet were sore and she was much too tired to actually run anywhere. She did, however, finish cleaning the bedpan she was working on and wash up quickly but thoroughly. It was almost the New Year and a guy that she’d been seeing, Joseph. He was a former Airforce pilot who dressed like a successful businessman or a lawyer. 

She walked out the front of the hospital and there he was, tall and handsome, his dark hair and beard getting long and beautiful, sky blue eyes looking down at her. He leaned down and kissed her as she approached. 

“Long shift?” he asked. 

“You have no idea,” she sighed. She slipped her hand into his. “I just want to forget about it all.”

He smiled. “I can help with that,” he said. “What do you want for dinner?” 

Sarah looked up at Joseph and pulled him close, her small body belying her strength. He laughed as she kissed him again. 

“I _really_ just want to forget about it,” she said. 

“Skip dinner, then,” he chuckled. He pulled her along towards the metro station. “Sounds good to me.” 

It took way too long for them to get home but by the time they were, Joseph eased her out of her scrubs. She didn’t mind that they were discarded onto the floor almost carelessly. Joseph was slow and methodical in opening her up, but she had never been with a guy who was so good at sex. Most couldn’t wait for the main event and rushed the whole thing and left her unsatisfied. Not him. He gave her everything her body wanted and left her feeling sated spent. 

Her Catholic family would be shocked and scandalized that she had sex with someone she wasn’t married to. They say lots of things about waiting for marriage and sex being for procreation or some ridiculous shit like that. She didn’t care. All she cared about was the fact that it felt amazing to be with this man. 

It lasted for hours. By the time they were done, she had been awake for nearly 20 hours and she felt like she had run a marathon. Her body was sore and ached in all the right ways and the lethargy it left her in lulled her to sleep. It washed over her like the tide, Joseph’s warm body behind her. 

She wasn’t sure how she felt about the guy personally, but there were definitely worse ways to spend a Friday evening.

* * *

10 years later…

Chiron surveyed the hill of what used to be Camp Halfblood. It was now a thriving, sprawling location. Demigods like Percy and Annabeth and Leo and Nico had decided decades before that they should emulate New Rome after the series of seemingly ceaseless quests had finally ended. It was a satisfying conclusion, in all honesty. Those who seemed the best and brightest of the demigods seemed to have their lives snuffed all too soon. 

It was a shame, as such people tended to also reflect the best aspects of the gods. The gods could be petty and vain. That much hadn’t changed in the thousands of years in which they had been around. Perhaps it was because humans simply had greater capacity for change. 

Regardless, they were going to have to find a new name for this place. “Camp” Halfblood didn’t seem to reflect their current reality anymore. Halfblood Hill would be a perfectly acceptable name for a place like this, especially if it kept growing and became a proper town. 

_Maybe it should be_ , Chiron thought. It was already as big if not bigger than most towns in Ancient Greece. Annabeth was currently plotting out how to design a series of roads through the town with the cabins at the center. Adult demigods lived in houses on the other side of the hill. They’d had to extend the barrier to accommodate, but if it kept them safe, it was worth it. 

Chiron had to admit that there was a level of satisfaction in being able to watch the people he had trained as children grow old into adulthood. Percy and Annabeth and the rest of their generation were in their late 50s now and they, like the regular humans of their generation, had indeed been a generation of change. 

Dionysus had finally finished his period of probation and went cheerfully back to Olympus. It left the position of Camp Director open. Annabeth filled the role nicely and Percy helped out where he could. The big house was now theirs and to be honest, Chiron believed that they were probably the best directors and mentors the demigods had had in centuries. 

Motion caught his eye. There was commotion near the periphery of the camp. A pair of satyrs and a group of demigods were near the camp, fleeing to safety. He spurred into action, galloping down the hill to offer assistance. 

“Barton, McLeigh!” Chiron shouted. The pair of Apollo campers turned to look at him. “Go to the Asclepius cabin and get Helen Cho, tell her we need healers.” 

“What’s going on?” Ashton McLeigh asked. 

“We have new campers, now go!” Chiron said. 

The two boys ran off to find the healers. Chiron kept running towards the periphery. There were four, ,em>four demigods and two satyrs he didn’t recognize right away. Those details were secondary to the hydra chasing them. It wouldn’t be able to breach the barrier, but the demigods wouldn’t get through in time. The monster’s many heads screeched as they gained on the group that was, at a glance, already battered and bruised. 

He cursed in Greek as he took his bow. It was the exact wrong weapon to deal with this creature, but he couldn’t do anything about that now. He notched an arrow and drew it back and fired it over the demigods’ heads into the hydra’s chest. It bellowed and the heads swiveled towards him. He ran off to the side and blessedly, the hydra turned to attack him. He kept running as he notched another arrow and fired again. It was all he could do to buy time for the other demigods to get to safety. He managed to keep his distance.

“Damn,” Chiron huffed as he kept running. 

His lungs burned. Maybe he’d gotten out of shape in the years of peace. Dodging nine heads filled with razor sharp teeth and spitting acid was more dangerous than anything he’d done in years. He had a sword, but even if he wanted to use it, without a way to cauterize the stump left behind, the head would just grow back. She was tall and muscular with short, spiky brown hair. 

Finally, help arrived as a woman darted in front of the hydra and shouted as she decapitated one of the heads. Immediately after, a flaming arrow landed on the stump and burned the flesh. 

“Good timing, Clarisse,” Chiron said. 

“Getting slow, Chiron,” she said with a grin. She hefted her sword. “Keep up, Solace.” 

“You know I’m not as young as I used to be, right?” Will replied as he notched another flaming arrow. 

“Wuss,” she said. The hydra screeched and the heads reared back. 

“Get ready!” Chiron called as he drew his sword. 

His distaste for the weapon was nothing compared to the need to kill the threat in front of him. He galloped forward, dodging the heads and acid until he cut off a head. Clarisse yelled as she brought her sword down on another head. Before the heads could grow back, Solace shot more burning arrows at the stumps and set them aflame. 

There was no time to rest or celebrate, yet. With each head gone, the hydra grew more aggressive and desperate. Unfortunately, even though Chiron was immortal, the same could not be said of Clarisse or Will. Neither were in their prime, no matter what Clarisse said. 

It was after the fifth head was decapitated that one of the hydra’s legs caught Clarisse and kicked out. She grunted as she fell and rolled back up into a standing position. Her armor was scratched, but it held. It offered brief relief. 

“Stay sharp!” Chiron called out. “We’re not done yet!” 

The four remaining heads screeched and writhed between the three combatants, snapping and hissing and spitting acid. The ground was becoming treacherous. Acid pooled in the ground and Chiron had to watch to make sure he didn’t accidentally step in it, which was harder than you would think when the bottom half of his body was equine. 

Clarisse dodged one of the snapping maws and cut another head off. Almost as soon as it was gone, Will shot it and the wound cauterized. Chiron charged forward as the hydra wailed in pain and cut off another head. Clarisse got another and Chiron finished the last. Will shot each stump and the beast fell to the ground, dead. Chiron breathed heavily and sighed in relief. 

“Well, that was bracing,” Chiron said. 

“That was just like the good ole days,” Clarisse laughed. “Gods, really gets the blood pumping!” 

Chiron resisted the urge to roll his eyes. There was a reason Clarisse was in charge of teaching demigods how to fight, but it seemed that age hadn’t mellowed her general approach to fighting monsters. 

“First thing’s first,” Chiron said, trotting towards the Asclepius cabin. “There are young demigods that need healing.” 

“I’ll come, too,” Will said. 

“Thank you for your help, Clarisse,” Chiron said. “Please make sure that the area gets roped off.” 

She nodded and started hollering at the campers who had watched the fight from afar and were now approaching the carcass. Chiron would worry about them later as he trotted to the medic. He approached the door to the cabin and shifted down to the version of him in a wheelchair. It felt a bit cramped, but it also allowed him to enter homes without attracting too much attention. 

There were four demigods. Three of them had tanned skin and dark hair, two girls and a boy. They each also had a cleft chin and looked like siblings. Chiron was staggered for a moment. Sibling demigods did happen, but usually not in three. If they did, the siblings usually didn’t last long enough to make it to the camp. The boy seemed especially powerful, whoever his parent was. 

Then there was the other boy. He was blond with stormy blue eyes and skinny, almost frail. His body belied the amount of power that he seemed to have inherited. Chiron didn’t know who this child was related to, but he had a feeling. 

He rolled up next to their beds when Helen Cho finished tending to them. The girls looked at him with a mixture of fear and wariness. It wasn’t unusual. Many demigods arrived with their entire knowledge of the worlds turned on their heads. Many ended up hating their godly parents. Chiron was certainly among that number, so he could hardly blame them. 

“Hello, my dear,” he said gently. “Do you know where you are?” 

“No,” she said quietly. 

“You’re somewhere safe,” Chiron said. 

“Our friends,” she said. “Lila and Willow, are they okay?” 

“They’re fine,” Cho said from the other side of the room. “Those satyrs are made of stern stuff.” 

“What did they tell you about this place?” Chiron asked. 

“Just that it was safe,” she replied. “For me, my sister, brother, and his friend.” 

“It is,” Chiron said. “This is Halfblood Hill. It’s a place where demigods come to take refuge.”

She blinked at him and looked to her siblings and the other boy. She seemed scared, all of them. Except the smallest of them, the skinny boy with fierce eyes. He didn’t seem to have an ounce of fear in his body. A blessing and a curse for a young demigod. 

“When will our parents come get us?” he asked. “Ma says that I gotta be home by 7.”

Chiron held back a sigh. “My name is Chiron,” he said. “What are yours?” 

There was silence among them. Maybe they had no idea what he was talking about. Maybe they had never heard of the Greek gods. Many hadn’t, especially at their age. The small boy was the first to speak. 

“My name is Steve Rogers,” he said. At that, his friends seemed to become a little more sure of themselves.

“Sophie,” the older girl said. 

“Rebecca,” the younger one offered. 

“I’m James Barnes,” said the dark haired boy. He looked a couple years older than the skinny one and he smiled like it came as naturally as breathing. “But everyone calls me Bucky.” 

Chiron smiled. “Pleased to meet you all,” he said. 

“What are we doing here, exactly?” Steve asked. “Why is this place safe? Why aren’t our parents here?” 

“That is a long story,” Chiron said. “What do you know of the Greek gods?”

* * *

“So… the Greek gods are real?” Bucky asked.

“Yes,” Chiron replied. 

“And we’re their kids,” Rebecca said. 

“Yes.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Sophie said. “I don’t know what youse guys are drinking up here, but maybe you should get it checked out.” 

Chiron chuckled. It was an increasingly common reaction to the news, even with the resurgence of worshipping the old gods. Even children of neo pagans sometimes had difficulty with the news. 

“Yeah, Sophie, Rebecca, and Bucky all have a dad,” Steve said. “And mom said my dad was in the navy.” 

“You’ve never met him?” Chiron asked. 

“She said he died,” Steve replied. Chiron smiled sympathetically. This surely wouldn’t be the easiest news. 

“I will leave you to rest,” Chiron said. “You haven’t been claimed yet, but I suspect that it will happen in a day or two.”

He wheeled out of the cabin and transformed into his normal body as soon as he was out. He resisted the urge to shake his lower half, though he did stretch his legs out. There was a gasp from inside the cabin. He shrugged. Visual evidence usually worked better than words, anyway. They already knew their satyr guides who helped bring them to Halfblood Hill. It was hopefully only a matter of time before they accepted it.


	2. Chapter 2

This place, Halfblood Hill, was the strangest place Bucky had ever seen. For one thing, it looked a bit like a camp rather than a town like Willow had said. The cabins were all enormous and had clearly been here a while. At 10, Bucky was at just the right age for summer camps, but this place… this place looked like one of those small towns people talked about, usually in the same sentence as horror movies with chainsaws. 

The fact that there were not yet any chainsaws did not comfort him. There were lots of people with swords and spears and that wasn’t much better. Who still used those things, anyway? It was 2059, for Christ’s sake! They could at least be laser swords. 

The fact that there were dozens of cabins didn’t help, either. The entire layout looked like a small town, honestly, if the small town also had a suburb where people lived communally. 20 cabins were in a weird, almost circular formation (Willow and Lila said that it was the Greek letter, omega, whatever that was), with two on one end that were bigger and fancier than the rest. The rest were located behind the others, making it feel somewhat cramped. The only two "cabins" that didn’t have other cabins around them were the big ones at the end. They looked more like fancy churches than anything else. 

_Must be the rich kids’ homes_ , Bucky thought. 

Steve nudged him and Bucky looked down at him. Steve seemed much more levelheaded about this whole experience than Bucky felt. Of course, that was liable to change in a heartbeat if Steve saw a fight or something. 

“Don’t worry about it,” Steve said. “Our parents will be here soon and they’ll tell us what’s going on.” 

“Right, yeah,” Bucky said. “I was just thinkin’ that.” 

“Sure,” Steve replied. Bucky grinned down at him and nudged him back. 

Their guide, someone who seemed slightly crazed and distractible named Leo Valdez, showed them around the camp. He seemed most proud of the technological stuff like the “new and improved” lava climbing wall. Bucky wasn’t sure if the lava was new and if it was, how it was possibly an improvement on whatever had been there before. 

“Do you have laser swords?” Bucky asked. 

“Do we have what?” Leo asked. 

“Laser swords,” Bucky repeated. “Like from that really old sci-fi movie old people like called Star Quest.” 

“You mean Star Wars?” Leo asked with a wince. 

“Whatever,” Bucky replied. 

“No, we don’t have lightsabers,” Leo said. His eyes were bright with excitement, though. “But… maybe if I…”

“Good going, Bucky,” Sophie said. “You had to ruin it all by being a nerd.” 

“Hey!” Bucky said. “Laser swords are cool, you can’t deny that!”

“Boys,” she groaned. Bucky rolled his eyes. 

“Shut up, Soph, you’re just boring,” Becca replied. “What’s the point of all this if they don’t even have laser swords?” 

“This isn’t sci-fi, they’re gods,” Sophie said. “It’s more fantasy.” 

“So they can’t have laser swords because they’re not futuristic enough?” Steve asked. 

“That’s ridiculous,” Leo declared. “I could make a lightsaber easy. Maybe. Probably. Ish. Might take a few days, but still, whatever. It’s totally possible!”

He walked them up to a cabin with some kind of winged staff with two snakes entwined around it hanging from the door. It was clearly important, but Bucky could only think of the ambulance that visited school one time to teach them about calling 911 once when he was 6. Leo knocked loudly as they entered. 

The cabin was packed. Beds were everywhere and kids of all ages were present. They all looked to the door. 

“Welcome to cabin 11, Hermes’ Cabin,” Leo said. “This is where the children of Hermes stay.” 

“And kids who haven’t been claimed yet,” an older boy said as he walked up. He had brown hair and green eyes, a square jaw, and a wispy beard. “It's a bit crowded sometimes, but we manage.”

“Hey, Quill,” Leo said. “Kids, this is Peter Quill, camp counselor of the Hermes Cabin.” 

“Nice to meet ya, kids,” he said with a grin that looked decidedly mischievous. “How old are you all?” 

“We’re 12,” Sophie said, gesturing between her and Becca. 

“I’m 11,” Bucky replied. 

“I’m almost 10,” Steve said. 

“Well, good to meet you all,” Peter said. “Hopefully you’ll all be claimed soon. Not that we want you to leave, but it’s always exciting when it happens.” 

“Yeah, you came at a good time, the cabin has fewer kids than usual,” Leo said. 

Bucky blinked for a moment. This was slow? The cabin was practically lined with beds from wall to wall. It was bigger than some of the other cabins, but still, it seemed cramped. Just because he grew up with two sisters didn’t mean he wanted to see them all the time like this.

“Well, I’ll leave Pete here to help you guys settle in, now,” Leo said. “Need anything, holler. Except after hours, the harpies will get you. You don’t want that, trust me.” 

From the way Leo said that, Bucky wasn’t sure if he was joking or not. He didn’t seem to take anything seriously.

“What’s a harpy?” Steve asked. 

“Ugly for one thing,” Peter said as he started walking them towards a group of unoccupied beds. “Come on, I’ll tell you anything you wanna know.”

* * *

By the time the bell rang for dinner, which was apparently to be held in a massive pavilion, Bucky was pretty sure everything about his life was a lie. Heck, this might be one huge, elaborate dream for all he knew. It felt real, though, for what it was worth. 

The magic food didn’t help, even if it was delicious. Later that night, when the lights were out and there was nothing to do but stare up at the ceiling, Bucky wondered if anyone had even bothered to tell their parents that they were all right. Yesterday he was complaining to his mom that he was old enough to not be tucked into bed at night. 

Tonight… well, tonight he was surrounded by strangers, none of them even remotely like his mom. 

He didn’t sleep much that night.

* * *

Steve woke up early, not that he slept well. The boys’ side of the cabin was sectioned off from the girls’, so the only person he knew was right above him. He knew Bucky hadn’t slept either, but he wasn’t sure whether or not to be comforted by that. 

Steve still wasn’t sure how much of this he believed. Learning that Willow was a satyr? That Lila was a satyr, too? That they were in danger and they had to flee from Brooklyn to some place near Montauk? A day ago, he would’ve called it crap and probably gotten a sharp look from his ma for saying so. 

But his ma wasn’t here, now. A cold sliver of loneliness and fear wormed in the pit of his stomach at that thought. He wanted to ask her about his dad again, ask her if she knew who… or what, he was. She always said that he was either a navy man or someone she knew when she was younger. 

But if someone was with a god, wouldn’t they know? And it wasn’t like his ma took him to church or anything, but no one ever talked about gods, just God, or Jesus who might’ve been God or might not have been. It wasn’t clear and Steve didn’t think about it much. 

Steve got up and decided to shower while everyone was still asleep… only to realize that he literally had nothing. Not even a towel to dry off with. He sighed as he dropped back onto the bed. 

This place… whatever it was, it wasn’t home.

* * *

Breakfast was about as cheery as dinner had been the night before. The weirdest thing was how people threw perfectly good food into the big fire in the pavilion. Apparently it was an offering to the gods or something, but Steve didn’t get why gods would want burned food. 

As soon as breakfast was over, Bucky pulled him aside. His sisters were with them as well. Steve looked warily towards the receding crowd full of people he didn’t know before looking back to Bucky. 

“Follow me,” he said. 

“Where?” Becca asked. 

“Does it matter?” Steve replied as he went after Bucky. They followed him to the north end of camp until they got to the beach. They sat down in the sand hear the tide so that the waves washed over their bare feet. 

“What is going on?” Sophie asked. 

“Heck if I know,” Bucky muttered. 

“Bucky Barnes!” Sophie said. “If Ma heard you sayin’ that…”

“She’s not here,” Bucky said sadly. “Ma isn’t here and if she was, she wouldn’t be letting us stay, would she?” 

Bucky drew his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Steve scooted up next to him until they were touching. 

“It’s not right,” he said. “We shouldn’t have to stay here.”

“Where would we go?” Becca asked. “I barely even know how we got here. Willow and Lila were the ones who brought us here.” 

“With a monster on our tails,” Bucky said. “We should’ve stayed in Brooklyn.” 

“Maybe it would’ve found us there,” Sophie replied. “Maybe we're supposed to be here like they said.”

“What makes you say that?” Becca asked. 

“Just a feeling,” she said. “Like the people here are like us or something.”

Steve fell silent at that. It was true, his entire life he’d been singled out by the other people around him. Kids found reasons to exclude him and push him away at best or beat him up at worst. Bucky was the only one who helped him, but even then, he didn’t have many friends. He did well because he sucked up to the teachers. 

Sophie and Becca were the same way. Something was different about them and it seemed like everyone knew it. That didn’t mean that he had to like this place, though.

“Anyone got a cell phone?” Steve asked. “With battery?” 

“Hang on,” Sophie said. She reached into her pocket and held up her phone. “Not great signal, but it’s better than nothing, I guess.”

Steve took the phone and tapped the contact to his ma. The phone rang a few times before she picked up. 

“Steve, hello sweetheart, how’s summer camp?” she asked sweetly. 

“Ma?” Steve asked. “You know about the camp?” 

“Yes, I think it’s so sweet of your dad’s folks to help you go,” she said. “I hear it’s a great place. How is it? Are you having fun?”

“Uh…” Steve replied. Dad’s folks? Who was she talking about? “I guess.” 

“Oh, sweetheart, are you homesick?” she asked. 

“A… a bit,” Steve replied. He really had no idea what was going on. 

“Oh, it’ll be okay, Steve,” she said. “I’ll see about coming to visit sometime, but if I can’t, we’ll see each other at the end of the summer, okay?”

“O…Okay,” Steve said. “Um, d-do you think you could send me some stuff? I f-forgot my bag.” 

“Yes, I noticed,” she said. “Don’t worry, I’ll send it to you. Try to hold out of a few days.” 

“Thanks,” Steve said quietly. 

“I love you, sweetheart,” she said. “Try to have some fun and make friends, okay?” 

“Okay,” Steve said. “Love you, too.” 

With that, he hung up and handed the phone back to Sophie. 

“She knows?” Sophie asked. 

“She thinks that my dad’s family funded me to get here,” Steve said. They were all quiet for a while. 

“What the heck is going on here?” Bucky asked. Sophie called her and her siblings’ parents only to hear a similar story from what Steve heard. This time, an old family friend was the one who paid for them to go to the camp. When Sophie finally hung up, the four of them sat there, the waves washing against their feet.

“I guess… we’re stuck here for now,” Becca said. “Should we go back to the others?”

“No,” Steve said. “Let’s just stay here for now. It’s the beach. We can catch up with them later.” 

No one said anything to that, especially since no one had bothered to explain what it was people did during the day, here. Steve had never even been to a summer camp since his ma couldn’t afford them. During the summer he usually hung around the Barnes house. Sure their lives were weird, but they were never dangerous until recently. 

Sometime around noon, they heard someone running towards them and they looked up to see Willow and Lila, this time with their satyr legs completely exposed. It was different from what Steve was used to. Willow was his and Bucky’s only other friend. He had curly brown hair and brown eyes and he had always been thought of as an early bloomer on account of his pimply face. 

Lila was similar, but her gentler face was rounder as opposed to Willow’s more angled face. Her horns were also longer and was slightly taller than Willow. 

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys!” Lila cried when she approached. She knelt in the sand next to them. “You weren’t in Ancient Greek class and your cabin is supposed to be helping cleaning the stables today.”

“Sorry we…” Sophie began. 

“Forgot,” Steve interjected. “We weren’t sure where to go, so we just came here.”

“Right, well, it’s almost lunch,” Willow said. “If you come with us, we’ll just say you got lost.”

“You’ll miss the sword fighting lesson, though,” Lila said. That sparked Steve’s curiosity, to be sure, not that he was strong enough to use a sword, to be honest. 

“Won’t Peter get in trouble for that, though?” Becca asked. Lila shrugged. 

“Peter is a thief and a rabble rouser and the only reason he’s the counselor for the Hermes cabin is because he’s the oldest member,” she replied. “He’s always in trouble for something. This would be, like, the least disastrous thing he’d done.”

Steve stood up and dusted himself off. “I’ll go to the sword fighting lesson,” he announced. Willow smiled and stood up. 

“Follow me,” he said. He started trotting to the end of the beach and Steve followed as quickly as he could. By the time he reached the reeds at the edge of the beach, he heard someone behind him. 

“Wait up, I’m coming, too!” Steve turned around to see Bucky behind him panting slightly. 

“You are?” Steve asked. 

“Shut up, punk,” Bucky said. “You would get yourself stabbed in two seconds flat without me.” 

Steve smiled in spite of himself. “Well come on, we don’t wanna keep Will waiting.”


	3. Chapter 3

The camp was a mixture of insane activities and goofy, folky fun that the camps Steve saw on TV made it out to be. If the average camp had pegasi, satyrs, and deadly activities, that is. After three days of moving around the camp and getting used to things, sword fighting was squarely in the middle as far as how weird things were. The weirdest thing they’d ever done so far was the monster assault class, which focused on fighting a giant crab. 

The absence of an actual crab to fight made the exercise seem somewhat silly. Add to the fact that Steve had had exactly one lesson on how to fight, it made the exercise seem questionable. That didn’t stop him from charging headlong into the fray, of course. Bucky had rolled his eyes and run after him. Steve got himself knocked flat on his ass by an older camper two minutes in and was told he had to sit out the rest of the fight. He snuck off and joined up again a few minutes later. 

The most normal thing they’d had so far was a Greek mythology class. It was interesting, if not a little weird about how the gods were related to each other. Knowing that many of the people at the camp were related to one of them was both cool and a little terrifying. 

“Who do you think we’re related to?” Sophie asked that Saturday. 

They were back at the beach, but this time they were just lying there beneath an umbrella. Sophie and Becca had found some sunglasses and camp shirts to last them until their regular clothes arrived, however that was supposed to happen. Apparently regular people couldn’t see the camp. 

“Probably not one of the cool ones,” Steve replied. “The only thing I can do so far is ride a pegasus.”

“It’s cool that it came to you so naturally, though,” Becca said. “I wish it was like that for me. They’re so cool!”

Steve had to admit that they were pretty cool, even if he didn’t have much grace while actually riding them. There was one pegasus, a white one named Harley, who always nudged him when he passed by. He had to admit that flying was pretty awesome. It probably didn’t help with figuring out who his dad was, though. 

“I dunno,” Bucky said. “You do like to fight people. Maybe you’re a son of Ares.” 

Steve grimaced at that. The Ares cabin was full of bullies. The thought of being related to them made him uneasy. Last night during the Capture the Flag game, Hermes cabin had been paired up with them and they reminded Steve of all the people who had ever beaten him up in school. In fact, the only reason why Steve hadn’t gotten in trouble with them was because Bucky had been there to hold him back. 

Steve still didn’t like them one bit. 

“No way,” he said. “Definitely not Ares.” 

“Well we know it’s not Athena,” Bucky said. 

The Athena cabin wasn’t so bad. Athena might be a goddess of war, but they weren’t like the Ares cabin. They didn’t go around picking on smaller people. They had, unfortunately, been on the opposing team and they were smarter than a lot of the other campers. They had also won quite handily last night. 

“No way of knowing until we get claimed, I guess,” Steve said. “What about you guys? Who do you think you’re related to?”

“It’s weird to think of having another parent,” Bucky said. “I mean… that means either our ma or dad isn’t… really our ma or dad.” 

They were all silent at that. It was the unspoken reality that they were facing. Steve sympathized as much as he was able. He’d never met his dad, whoever he was. Part of him was excited to know who he was. Part of him was angry that he’d been gone for so long. Part of him wondered why he’d stayed away. 

The official reason, as Peter Quill had put it, was that the gods couldn’t stay with their mortal children. They were too different and they would attract monsters more easily than they would’ve normally. Steve thought that was a load of crap, personally. Why go through the trouble of having a kid with someone if you weren’t gonna stick around to help out?

God… or gods, maybe… knew that his ma’s life wasn’t easy. She worked long hours at the hospital to put food on the table. Steve was only 9 years old, but he knew enough to know that they didn’t have as much as Bucky and his family. 

“I have no idea,” Becca said eventually. “I mean, we don’t have any special powers like you do.” 

“Riding a flying horse counts as a power?” Steve replied. 

“It’s more than we have,” Sophie replied. “I mean, Bucky can get whatever he wants somehow, but neither of us have that ability. Maybe they’re wrong about us.” 

“If they were wrong, you’d probably be home by now,” Bucky said. 

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel better,” she replied. 

“Well, we know we’re not one of the big three,” Becca said. “I mean, if we were that powerful, we’d know, right?” 

“Definitely,” Steve replied. 

“Maybe we’re part of the Athena cabin?” Bucky said. 

“No way,” Sophie said. “Bucky might be okay with a sword, but me and Becca were terrible.” 

“Maybe you and Bucky have different parents,” Steve said. 

They were all quiet for a while at that. No one spoke and Steve almost apologized and took it back. 

“No,” Bucky said. “We’re all siblings, I know it.”

Becca and Sophie nodded. 

“I think Artemis is the most interesting,” Sophie said eventually. “But she swore off men, so it can’t be her.”

“Yeah, that’s a real shame, that,” Becca said. “Boys are cute.” 

“Oh my God, gross,” Sophie replied. “Don’t even start.” 

With that, Steve got up and ran towards the ocean rather than be caught in the middle of another of Becca and Sophie’s arguments about Peter Quill. Becca thought he was cute and Sophie made gagging, barfing sounds whenever it was mentioned. Bucky was right on his heels and passed him before long, jumping head long into the ocean with a big splash as he jumped directly into a wave. 

Steve followed after him but paused at the edge of the water. Getting his toes wet was one thing, but he had always been a little wary around the ocean. He didn’t know why, it just seemed dangerous to him for some reason. He shook himself off and jumped into the water. He shouted in surprise at the coldness of the water, but waded out to where Bucky had been watching. 

“Took you long enough” he said. Steve just splashed him in retaliation. “Oh, it’s on!” 

Bucky splashed him back and soon Steve forgot his worries as he frolicked in the water with his friend.

* * *

That night, Steve was eating calmly at the Hermes table. There were easily more than a dozen kids there. In addition to the Steve and the Barnes kids, there were three other unclaimed demigods. A short redheaded girl a year younger than Steve but just as tall named Natasha, a girl with wavy brown hair and warm brown eyes named Peggy, and boy Steve’s age, but bigger than him by half named Sam. 

It was a good thing that the Hermes table was the biggest one there. Even so, it was a crowded table. 

“It’s because Hermes is the god of travelers,” Peter explained. “Among other things. You could say that he gets around a lot.” 

Steve wasn’t sure what that meant, but he figured that if someone had this many kids, he had to be a god because otherwise he would always be busy taking care of them. Apparently three demigods being related through their mortal parents was strange to these people. The fact that none of them were related outside of Hermes was the strange part to Steve. 

His thoughts were interrupted by a flying glob of mashed potatoes that landed square in his face. Several people at the Hermes table gasped at the sudden sound. 

“Are you okay, Steve?” Bucky asked. Steve looked over to where a group of Ares campers were cheering and giving each other high fives. He scowled. “Steve, no don’t,” Bucky warned. 

It was too late. Steve stood up on his chair and took a hunk of fruit in his hand and lobbed it across the pavilion at the Ares table. It flew straight and true until it hit one of the campers in the face. He was a guy a few years older than Steve named Gilmore Hodge and the only thing he was good at from what Steve saw was wrestling and picking on smaller kids. They gasped before Gilmore grinned wickedly.

“FOOD FIGHT!!” he shouted before he threw another handful of potatoes at Steve. This time, the glob strayed and hit Quill in the chest. He stood up and threw the first thing that he could reach, which was a hunk of barbeque chicken. 

The pavilion erupted into chaos as bits of food started flying everywhere. Some few kids tried to stay out of it, but they were soon roped in by their friends nearby. Steve wished that he was taller so he could throw food over people’s heads. Suddenly he was being lifted up off the ground. Steve didn’t think much of it and didn’t even look to see who was helping him as he kept pelting Ares cabin kids with food. He only aimed for the older kids, though, which looked like pretty much anyone, considering kids in cabin 5 all seemed huge. 

As soon as it started, it was over. The sprinklers in the ceiling burst and showered the kids. Children and staff and satyrs alike shrieked, with a few who laughed and kept throwing food. It took several minutes to get everything under control. By the end, a middle aged man with greying hair and sea green eyes walked up to Steve. 

“Fight’s over, kid,” he said. “You can stop, now.” 

Steve looked down. He was floating in the air with wind swirling around him. He wasn’t scared, though. 

How do I land? Steve wondered. No sooner had he thought the thought than he started his descent and landed softly on the ground. As soon as he was there, children gasped. Steve looked to his friend, Bucky. He just pointed above him. Steve looked up and saw the symbol of a lightning bolt hovering over his head. 

“Well,” the man said. “It’s been some time since we’ve had a son of Zeus here at the camp. Welcome.” 

Steve looked around at the people around him. People were looking at him with a mixture of astonishment and fear, except for Bucky and his sisters. Bucky walked up next to him and stood between Steve and the older man. 

“It’s okay,” the man said. “My name is Percy Chase-Jackson. Come with me.”

* * *

Percy took them back to where the cabins were and walked straight up to the biggest one. The structure was a huge, marble structure, all sharp edges and cold stone. It was about as unwelcoming a structure as Steve could imagine. It reminded him more of a church or courthouse than a cabin where people were supposed to sleep. 

Percy stopped on one of the steps and sat down with a sigh. Steve sat down in front of him and Bucky sat next to him. 

“Am I in trouble?” Steve asked. Percy shrugged. 

“If it were up to just me, I’d say no,” Percy said. “But my wife might see it differently and Chiron is the tie breaker.”

“The Ares cabin started it,” Steve said stubbornly. 

“I don’t doubt it,” Percy said. “When I first came here, a girl from the Ares cabin tried to shove my head in a toilet. I made the pipes burst and drenched them all.” 

Steve laughed in spite of his mood. 

“Ares cabin has always had more than its share of troublemakers,” Percy said. “It’s one of the hazards of being related to Ares. They’ll be reprimanded for their part in the fight.” 

“So why did you bring me here?” Steve asked. 

“I know a bit about what it’s like to be in your shoes,” Percy said. “I’m a son of Poseidon, you know.” 

“Really?” Bucky asked. 

“Yeah, and when I was here, I was the only one,” Percy said. “My dad swore an oath not to have any more kids with humans, but then I happened.”

“So you were alone?” Steve asked. 

“Yeah,” Percy said. “I’m not gonna lie, kid. Being a child of the Big Three is hard. Monsters are gonna find you more easily than most other demigods.”

Steve swallowed and tried not to show that he was afraid. His body was trembling at the thought of another monster like the hydra coming after him, trying to kill him like it had tried to do just days ago. Or worse, trying to kill his friends, too. 

“You’ll be okay, though,” Percy said. “You have friends with you. As long as you keep them close, you won’t have to worry about being alone.”

“What about my ma?” Steve asked. Percy smiled sympathetically. 

“That’s never gonna get easier,” Percy said. “Wish I could say it did, but it doesn’t.” 

Steve nodded. “Thanks,” he said. He wasn’t really sure what he was thanking Percy for, but he felt a little better. 

“I have a question,” Bucky said. “Are there any other kids in the Zeus cabin, or is Steve gonna be alone? Cause if he’s gonna be alone, he can just stay with me.” 

Percy chuckled and stood up. “There are a couple,” he said. “They’re a couple years older than you, but I think you’ll like them.” 

Someone shouted towards them and Steve looked to see a pair of campers heading towards them. Percy walked Steve and Bucky over to them. 

“Hey guys,” he said. “How’s the cleanup going?” 

“They are as well as can be expected,” the boy said. He was broad and stocky with long blond hair and he spoke with a British accent. 

“It’s an actual hellscape,” the girl said. She had short, spiky blond hair and brown eyes. 

“Yeah, figures,” Percy said. “This is Steve. He’s going to be staying with you now.” 

“It is a pleasure to meet a new brother,” the boy said warmly as he hugged Steve. “My name is Thor.” 

“H…hi,” Steve breathed, or tried to, anyway. “N-nice to meet you… too.” 

Thor released him and Steve took a deep breath. The girl gave him a look. 

“Don’t scare him, Thor,” she said. “He’s new to all this, remember? I’m Carol, nice to meet you, Steve. I’m the counselor for Cabin 1.” 

“You wanna show Steve around the cabin while I get his stuff moved over?” Percy asked. 

“Of course,” Thor said. Thor took Steve inside the “cabin”.

“Wait,” Steve said. “Can my friend come with me?” 

Carol shook her head. “It’s against the rules,” she said. 

“It’s a dumb rule,” Steve said. Percy laughed loudly and clapped Steve on the back. 

“Go on, take him in,” Percy said. “Just this once, though. Zeus is easily offended. And don’t tell Annabeth I said you could do this.” 

Carol saluted him and Percy walked off, still laughing as he went. Steve didn’t see what was so funny. It was a dumb rule. He hadn’t ever been to a camp, but not being allowed to go into another cabin? That was just silly

“Cool, sounds exciting,” Bucky said as he ran up the steps. Steve followed him up and walked through the doors. 

The inside was just as inviting as the outside, from what Steve could tell. Steve’s immediate thought was that the space reminded him of the time his class took a field trip to a courthouse (worst field trip ever). The marble walls made every sound they made echo in the vast, cold interior. In the very center was a statue of what he assumed was Zeus. He looked stern and angry with a thunderbolt in one hand and massive shield with a woman’s face with snakes for hair on it. It filled him with a sense of unease.

Steve wasn’t sure if this place could really be a home. If it weren’t for the beds in the room, there would be no indication that this place had people living here at all. Half the room was partitioned off so that Carol had her own space separate from Thor. And now Steve himself, he supposed. 

“We’ve all had the same thought when we first came,” Thor said. “Our father is not the most hospitable patron in the camp.” 

“You get used to it, though,” Carol said. Steve stared up at the statue. 

“Do you have to?” Bucky asked. “I mean, who wants their literal dad in their room all the time? Isn’t that a little weird?” 

“Yes, yes it is,” Carol said. “We’ve tried having it moved out of here, but apparently dad likes statues of himself.”

“I don’t want to stay here,” Steve said. Thor laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder gently and Bucky took one of Steve’s hands and squeezed it. 

“You can stay with me if you want,” Bucky said. 

“He’s been claimed,” Carol said. “He has to stay here, now.” 

Steve sighed. “I’ll be fine, Buck,” he said. Bucky didn’t look convinced, but he turned and walked out. Steve walked over to a bed that seemed to be outside of Zeus’s direct line of sight and sat down. 

“It will be okay,” Thor said. “We’re here for you. The children of Zeus have to stick together.” 

Steve looked back up at the statue of the man who was supposedly his father. His ma had never really talked much about him, just that he would meet her after she was done with her shifts at the hospital. He had always imagined his father as being like George, though; kind and warm and loving towards his children. 

None of those qualities were present with this man. He seemed harsher. Somehow the idea of knowing who his family was seemed much less exciting than it did a few days ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos give me life, y'all!
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](https://leisurelypanda.tumblr.com/) for various fandom nonsense! <3


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